1. Field of the Invention.
This invention has relation to a portable liquid storage and dispensing unit which can store fluids such as soap, shampoo, and conditioning rinse until needed; and can then be used to selectively dispense these fluids as needed during the bathing process.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
It is known to support a dispenser on a shower stall wall by suction cups, the dispenser having separate compartments for shampoo and rinse. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,160 to Casale et al. issued in November of 1975, FIGS. 4 and 6. Use of a suction cup to hold toilet articles is also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,883,062 issued to Rosemark in April of 1959.
Various manually pressure activated containers mounted on walls to dispense fluids are shown in the above mentioned patent to Rosemark and in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,078,016 issued to Judy in February of 1963; 3,078,017 issued to Waskonig et al. in February of 1963; 4,166,553 issued to Fraterrigo in September of 1979; and 4,470,523 issued to Spector in September of 1984. This Spector patent shows a flexible, resilient container encompassing a single compartment containing liquid soap, the container being more or less permanently attached to a kitchen or bathroom wall by adhesive, the liquid being dispensed from the container by exerting manual pressure on it.
Combining a collapsible fluid container with a sponge is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,143,755 issued to Rowley in August of 1964 and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,276,067 issued to Boyle et al. in October of 1966.
Other patents cited in the search for this invention as being of general interest, but not showing the elements of this invention include U.S. Pat. No. 3,349,967 issued to Schneller in October of 1967 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,611 issued to Sojka in November of 1976.
What was needed before the present invention was a squeezable fluid contaienr with several compartments, each having its own closable outlet port made so that applying manual pressure to a resilient wall of the container will cause liquid to be dispensed from which ever one of its compartments was open.
Also, before this invention, there was no such structure accomplishing the purposes set out above which would, when the unit was positioned for storage, be so assembled that all outlet ports are situated so that they cannot be accidentally accessed and opened to the end that fluids from the container and from a sponge connected to the container cannot escape from the unit.